Part-time/reserve Cop Shoots Suspect Mistaking Taser For Gun And Politics Were Involved.

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WhatInThe

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An Tulsa reserve deputy "accidently" shot a suspect going for his gun instead of his taser.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/14/tulsa-shooter-was-sheriff-s-sugar-daddy.html

The deputy admitted to the mistake saying he was sorry and even a video shows him yelling "Taser!"

But this incident brings up several big issues in law enforcement today. The first being the use of part-time or reserve officers & deputies. Several communities have done this with success & without incident. Around here many small towns frequently use part time police officers for vacations & miscellaneous shifts. They are trained/meet the minimum state certification of approximately 1400 hours of training. Sometimes they are coming from another department fully trained and others went to an academy part time over a year or two.


The second issue is the training and practices in general of law enforcement today including an us against them mindset and a quick escalation into the use of deadly force. A third issue would be is 73 too old to be an active law enforcement agent. Did physical ability or lack there of due to age play a part here.


But this Tulsa incident brings up the biggest issue of them all. Politics and law enforcement. This reserve deputy basically bought his way onto the force supplying them with vacations & equipment. It was a payoff. As it frequently is around here. If you want a government/law enforcement job you need a politician as a reference or a verbal recommendation/"good word for you". It's common knowledge you have to kiss political butt to get most government jobs. Without "connections" applicants learn or actually told if you want the job go volunteer for a politician for a while then ask for their help or name as a job reference which would be code for hire them. Politics.
 

This is one of those stories isn't it that pulls you both ways! The horror of another black man being shot by a white cop.......but he was a bad guy........and now this old guy gets to remember this incident til he dies......but the guy was a bad guy......cop killing another guy who ran......Here's a question that occurred to me the other day: why are we never hearing about black cops killing unarmed white or black guys? I seriously don't understand the craziness of this world sometimes.:confused:
 

The question that occurred to me was, granted.. the man mistook his gun for his taser,... but the suspect was subdued already... why did he feel the need to Taze him? AND if an officer cannot tell the feel of a Taser to a 357... has he had proper training?
 
I feel bad for both sides of the equation. An old guy trying to help out in a city where no doubt the budget is strained, and the victim, bad guy or not, he shouldn't have died.
 
That killer sheriff's training documents were falsified. http://rt.com/usa/250153-tulsa-bates-documents-falsified/


"Staff at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were reportedly ordered to falsify the training records and firearms certificates of a reserve deputy who mistook his firearm for a Taser, leading to the shooting death of an unarmed black man earlier this month.

Robert Bates, 73, a wealthy insurance executive who worked as a volunteer reserve deputy with the Tulsa County Police, was awarded “credit for field training he never took and firearms certifications he should not have received,” sources told the Tulsa World.

It was also revealed that “at least three” of Bates’ supervisors were transferred from the department after refusing to sign off on his state-required training, sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the Tulsa World.
Tulsa shooting highlights cash-strapped call to reserves in US police depts
Tulsa Country Sheriff Stanley Glanz told a Tulsa radio station that Bates had been licensed to use three firearms, including a handgun he mistook for a stun gun when he fatally shot Harris while detaining him.

However, the Sheriff’s Office said it has not been able to find Bates’ certification paperwork.

The Sheriff’s Office has released a summary listing training courses Bates had been given credit for, but have not released documents showing which supervisors signed off on that training.

Undersheriff Tim Albin rejected claims that Bates’ training records were falsified, and that supervisors involved were transferred to less desirable assignments.

“The training record speaks for itself. I have absolutely no knowledge of what you are talking about,”Albin said. “There aren’t any secrets in law enforcement. Zero! Those types of issues would have come up.”

To further complicate the case, Tulsa County Sheriff’s Major Shannon Clark told the Los Angeles Times that Bates had donated “a couple cars” as well as contributing “thousands of dollars” to Sheriff Glanz's reelection campaign in 2012, adding: “He isn’t the only millionaire we’ve got” in the police reserve program."
 
I'm not surprised nor is this the only part time/reserve deputy to get pushed through the training process. Heck many full time officers all over the country probably don't get the training they're supposed to take nor do they take it seriously. Just look at private industry. Training was frequently ignored and/or underrated. Bosses enforce it to cover their butts only. And that's what surprises me here because who ever decided to actually hire/use Bates should've checked his background.
 

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